Mott the Hoople is an English rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid-1970s. The band formed in the 1960s when guitarist Pete Overend Watts and drummer Dale Griffin, who were members of the band The Soulents, recruited guitarist Mick Ralphs and vocalist Stan Tippins from the band The Buddies to join them. The four piece got their musical start as The Doc Thomas Group playing a small resort town in Italy. A record deal came their way from Dischi Interrecord, and the band released their eponymous debut album in 1967. In the U.K. the band were known as The Shakedown Sound, and later became Silence. The group came to the attention of Guy Stevens at Island, who liked the group but not with Tippins as lead singer. Advertisements were placed and Ian Hunter was selected as lead singer and piano player. Tippins assumed the role of road manager. While in prison on a drug offence, Stevens read the Willard Manus novel “Mott the Hoople” about an eccentric who works in a circus freak show, and determined to use it as a band name. Silence reluctantly agreed to a name change following their early 1969 audition for Stevens. 1969 marked the release of the band’s self-titled album, which was a huge success and featured the songs, “Laugh at Me” by Sonny Bono, “At the Crossroads” by Doug Sahm's Sir Douglas Quintet and “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. The albums that followed performed poorly commercially until David Bowie, a huge fan of the band, stepped in. Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes” became the band’s biggest selling hit in 1972. The band’s sixth studio album, 1973’s “Mott,” peaked at #10 on the U.K. Albums chart and became a best seller in the U.S. The album spawned the hits, “Honaloochie Boogie” and “All the Way from Memphis,” which featured Andy Mackay on saxophone. 1973 marked some line-up changes with the band, Morgan Fisher from Love Affair joined as keyboardist, Mick Bolton from UFO as organist and Ralphs left the band to form Bad Company and was replaced by former Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosvenor. For contractual reasons he changed his name to Ariel Bender while in the band. “The Hoople” appeared in 1974 and was supported by a U.S. tour, which included Aerosmith opening up for them. That same year saw the band on tour with Queen. In the afterglow of “The Hoople” a live album “Live” was quickly released, after which Mick Ronson replaced Bender. The year ended with the exit of Ronson and Hunter who went on to form a duo. Ray Major and Nigel Benjamin replaced them. Around this time the band abbreviated their name to “Mott.” The new line-up of Mott released “Drive On” in 1975 and “Shouting and Pointing” in 1976, neither of which performed well commercially. John Fiddler from Medicine Head joined the group and they recorded two more albums, “British Lions” in 1978 and “Trouble With Women” in 1980, before calling it quits. Ronson and Hunter continued working together from time to time until Ronson’s death in 1993. Hunter continued on with a solo career, while Major began touring with his wife, Sandy Dillon. The band reunited briefly in the 1990s as Silence and released the album, “Shotgun Eyes” in 1998. 2007 saw Hunter, Ralphs and Allen perform at the Shepherds Bush Empire. 2009 saw the band announce that they would reunite at the Hammersmith Apollo in London to play two concerts. Four more concerts were added due to public demand from fans.